AIIB to co-finance India's power transmission project with ADB

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has planned to help India improve its power transmission network and expand the use of solar and wind energy with a loan of 100 million U.S. dollars.

The loan approved by the Board of Directors of AIIB involves co-financing of 50 million U.S. dollars from the Asian Development Bank.

This was the fourth co-financing made by AIIB and ADB, two major multilateral development banks in Asia.

Since AIIB commenced its operations in 2016, the two sides have co-financed four projects, including the M4 expressway in Pakistan with 100 million U.S. dollars from each bank.

The second is a natural gas production and transmission project in Bangladesh, with an aggregate financing of 227 million U.S. dollars, including 167 million U.S. dollars from AIIB.

The third relates to a highway round the port city Batumi, the second largest city of Georgia, with 114 million U.S. dollars provided by each bank.

In late September, ADB chief economist Yasuyuki Sawada said the two banks could cooperate to meet Asia's huge infrastructure investment needs.

Infrastructure needs in Asia and the Pacific stand at about 1.7 trillion U.S. dollars per year, and there is a finance gap of 500 billion U.S. dollars per year, Sawada said.